The Concert. With Russian pianist Svetlana Smolina at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari

Russian Pianist Thrills Members at Concert

LIFESTYLES

Review by Kay Anthony

Every once in awhile, members of Ponca City Concert Association are surprised and thrilled to find just one of the concerts during the season is more than worth the whole membership. Hearing critically acclaimed Russian pianist, Svetlana Smolina on March the 19 on the Poncan Theater stage was the one for me this year. I had read that she was an outstanding pianist with a luxuriant tone, that had impressed critics and audiences the world over, but I was not prepared for the amazing talent Live on Stage and our board members had booked for us.

Just for fun, during the intermission, I decided to ask as many people as I could for a one word adjective to describe how they had felt about the concert thus far. Some of the many comments, most similar in meaning, but all having their own special take were awesome, excellent, fantastic, wonderful, enchanting, marvelous, mesmerizing, brilliant, intense, scintillating and wow! One could not just say one word and said simply, “a stellar performance”.

Others wanted to comment on her appearance, which was over the top. The statuesque beauty had long blonde hair down to her waist, and easily could have been a model. The first half she appeared on stage in a floor length tangerine ball gown, and the second half, changed into a teal/blue sequined gown that she said she had put on especially for her performance of “Blue Danube”. When she played it later, we would not have cared what she had on, but were truly transported to the Danube River as she played a most difficult arrangement of the complete Strauss waltz. In introducing the number, she said when she was first given the score, she looked for the other piano part because there were too many notes for one pianist. Somehow, she mastered the arrangement and it truly was one of the favorites of the evening.

A grouping of pieces from Tchaikovsky’s “”Nutcracker Suite” was especially fun to hear in piano arrangements rather than with a full orchestra. The well known “March” followed by “Dance of the Fairy Draget” conjured up pictures of the ballet, but “Trepak” at the end was so fast and furious I had trouble imagining someone being able to dance that fast. It was a great way to end this suite and was over almost before it began.

Other selections from Chopin, Schumann, Shubert and Balakirev were equally played to perfection but too numerous to comment on all individually in this review. However the Balakirev number was, according to Svetlana, one of the hardest pieces in piano literature, and she said she had to work the most on it, and shed many tears, in learning it. To say the least, this practice paid off and it was incredible.

Born in Russia, but having been in the United States for some time, she still had a Russian accent, but managed to communicate with us exceptionally well as she explained about each of the works in detail. I reminded a few who said they couldn’t understand everything she said, how hard it would be for us to be in Russia and try to do the same thing to their audiences, speaking their difficult language! I gave her an “A” for effort and thought she was charming, and appreciated her ability to laugh at herself. One very endearing statement she made that we all understood was the fact that she loved playing in our breathtaking Poncan Theater and said she had been in few concert halls as beautiful as ours, and hoped that we appreciated it, and would really like to be invited back. In many classical concerts, there are a string of lengthy compositions, some by composers at least I had not heard of. However, Svetlana chose familiar composers and pieces for the most part that we could identify with and really enjoy her renditions of them. Another audience favorite was Franz Liszt’s “Liebestraum”, sometimes called “Dream of Love”. People who have visited European countries were again transported to the country and many memories came to our minds upon hearing such classics. Another in this same vein was Bizet’s opera, “Carmen”, which took place in a cigar factory in Seville, Spain with a bull fighting theme. This piece happened to be her last one, and her whole demeanor changed as she threw herself into the bull fighting section. The whole number was emotion packed and as she said, usually was a show stopper. She teased that she hoped we would still remember other numbers she had played prior to the last one.

Although she didn’t give an encore performance, she received a standing ovation practically before this last number was over. We all wished for more, but knew this special concert had to come to an end and I am quite sure not one in attendance left not thinking they had been highly entertained by one of the best.

The last concert of the season, Stringfever, will be on April 14 at which time memberships for next season will have been sold and those holding new memberships will be admitted to this concert too.

Information on the drive will be in The Ponca City News soon, but those wanting it now can call Leslie Rardin at 765-3971.

Four unfinished portrait in Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic society

October 21, 2015

"Four unfinished portrait" - a music subscription with the same name opens tomorrow night in the Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic. The first concert dedicated to Sergei Rachmaninoff. Today the artists had a final rehearsal. It was visited by the film crew of the program "Vesti - Volga region".